Weapons of Choice

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultra-modern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942...right into the path of the U.S. naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll.

History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun. The veterans of Pearl Harbor have never seen a helicopter, or a cruise missile - let alone nanotechnology, ceramic bullets, and F22 Raptor stealth jetfighters.

Allied and Axis forces are then caught in a desperate struggle to gain the upper hand - each hoping to tip the balance with a fist full of 21st-century firepower. What happens next is anybody's guess - and everybody's nightmare.

Listen to the entire Axis of Time trilogy.

©2005 John Birmingham (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

The story line is a political stretch

What was most disappointing about John Birmingham’s story?

The story keeps digging into politics. I don't think the author understands American politics. I can handle the worm hole story in the plot but too unbelievable was an aircraft carrier named after Hillary Clinton and a flag officer stating that the military loved Hillary Clinton. The author keeps banging a drumb about race relations, that in 2021 magically all of the race issues that the U.S. Struggles with are resolved. If the author had brought his political and race agenda up only a dozen times per chapter, I might have been able to continue with the book. The politics just destroyed the book for me. Bottom line, a worm hole to the past is far more believable than the authors vision of American politics and Americas racial problems.

20 of 23 people found this review helpful

Could not even finish it

Nice try. The concept was very similar to the final countdown, but the author went ahead and ruined the story by adding in all his left leaning social and political opinions, which turns me off. I dont think every white person fighting in world war 2 was a biggoted narrow minded racist, or all sounded like goober from the andy griffith show. Its a shame, as it could have been a good book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Excellent Alternate History

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and rank the storytelling right up there with Jack Campbell's "Lost Fleet Series" in the intensity of the action and portrayal of characters.

There may be too much gratuitous sex sprinkled throughout though. I really don't need to know about Beria getting ready to masturbate to pornography while talking to Stalin (book 3). And way too much with Slim Jim.

Worth the credits.

18 of 22 people found this review helpful

Interesting concept, poor final product

I wanted to like this book but I can't get past the representation that everyone from 1942 is a vicious, hateful racist and sexist. I'm sure there were plenty who were, but it gets in the way of the interesting concept of "what if?". Every single character from 1942 is predictably militantly and violently bigoted.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Superb!

This is a great read and Jay Snyder does a wonderful job of it. Wow, what a Tom Clancy type action tech thriller. I can't put it down and can't wait to read the next one. A terrific science fiction time twister indeed. Fabulous!

12 of 16 people found this review helpful

Great... addicted to another loooooong series!

Oh no I am once again addicted to a long series about military time travel/alternative universe! I am as hooked on this one as I was at first with ‘Destroyermen’ by Taylor Anderson. This is something I am not happy with because the ‘Destroyermen’ series is not yet complete or available yet! I swear if this series leaves me hanging as well I will go crazy!

I loved this first book. It was well written, had plenty of characters, created just enough tension, and involved enough history and modern day problems to help you feel the drama of the story.

This book screams for a multiple narrators to help with the different characters. But none the less I didn’t mind the narration. The speed was easily increased which decreased the length of listening time. However, even if you watch your listening credit per hour ratio (like I do as I am a cheap skate) this title still gives you a lot of listening time. The problem is you won’t be able to put it down and it will be over before you know it!

I brought this one without checking the reviews or even reading the blurb about. I didn’t even know it was a series, and to be honest as I was listening to it and getting closer to the end I was wondering how is this going to finish? The closer I got to the end the more I became certain it was going to be a series. The more I became certain of this the more I became worried that it will just continue on and on like ‘Destroyermen’. However, if the rest in the series are as good as this one I won’t complain!

I don’t think this book is meant to be a thought provoking blow your mind type deal. It is simply great value for money to entertain. I will certainly be buying the next in the series.

Two thumbs up from me!

12 of 17 people found this review helpful

Alternate history book

This is a brand new genre for me. The idea that the near future can meld into 1942 is mind blowing.

The great reading by Jay Snyder paints the picture so well.

Some very interesting mind warps to boot. 10/10!

7 of 11 people found this review helpful

Not a bad read, but think twice before you buy

I read the reviews prior to purchasing and saw several had mentioned the language of the book as a negative. I can tolerate most language, but WHOA... I wasn't prepared for the rampant use of the N-word, the F-bomb, and other racial slurs.

I also found the book to have several areas that are unbelievable, even for sci-fi. The author does a fairly good job setting the scene of the 1940's, but I find some of the technology from 2021 (just a mere 12 years away) to be a stretch. The author fails to recognize how slow the military is to implement cutting edge technology.

The narrator is decent and makes an effort to sound like the real historical figures (like Roosevelt and JFK).

Unlike other reviewers, I did push through to the end, but it was a difficult task. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to most people.

26 of 42 people found this review helpful

Too much of everything

Yes I realize this is a combination of the past and future but I became overloaded with the political correctness, e.g., a super aircraft carrier named the USS Hillary Clinton et al. The narrator could not go from male to female voices with so many flashbacks I lost track of past or future, male or female, what ship we were on etc. I pulled the plug when there seemed to be no end to the emesis on board one of the ships; I was ready to vomit myself.

Half way through part 1 of 3 I kissed off my purchase fee. I have downloaded over 1300 books from Audible and I can not remember the last time I gave up on a book, save your money, this one is just not worth even the member price.

This was a pitiful attempt to remake a classic;The Final Countdown & starring Kirk Douglas, Katherine Ross and Martin Sheen while dodging plagiarism.

22 of 36 people found this review helpful

Great potential but a failed execution.

On the surface this book has everything I would want before spending my hard-earned credits. Military action, a dose of sci-fi, and all narrated by Jay Snyder. The only positive aspect after listening was the latter. Jay Snyder's performance was lively and well done. Its not as good as his Gray Man series reading but I'll chalk that up to doing the best with what he had to work with. The content itself was slow, labored, and exceptionally preachy. Throughout the book the author seemed to spend more time drawing out how racist/sexist he believed the characters from the past United States military were in contrast to how egalitarian the future military will be. I get that some attention had to be paid to what would most likely be a clash of values, ideas, etc. but unfortunately the author drills it into your head ad nauseam to the point it completely grinds the story's progress to a halt. It's absolutely pervasive in the story. The author seems to always find a way to slip it in to nearly any exchange between past and present personnel with a bias that favors the future as enlightened professionals in contrast to the Americans of 1942 as little better than "knuckle draggers". Was our society perfect and without bigotry in 1942? Of course not, but the author's portrayal of that society is insulting to a generation that sacrificed so much to defeat tyranny on a global scale. Its important to remember that without that victory, all the progress to the equality we have today would have not been possible.

4 of 7 people found this review helpful